Demographics
Religion and RacesRELIGION: Quakers, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and others
RACE: Dutch, French, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, English, Scots, Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians, Portuguese and Italian. Education In the middle colonies, where, according to the Gazette, about half the adults could sign their names, colonial leaders agreed that education was important but were not concerned with providing it. In 1683, a law was passed that all children must be taught to read and write and be trained in a useful trade. All boys learned a skill or trade. Depending on their social class, they might also study classical languages, history and literature, mathematics, and natural science. Girls were tutored at home in a variety of household and social skills.
Population and Its GrowthPOPULATION:: 350 settlers at first; by the 1700’s the population was in the 100,000s
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EconomyHere in New York, you can find a soil very different from the barren lands of New England. The great valleys of the Hudson and the Mohawk are exceedingly fertile, and in this colony the majority of the people are tillers of the soil. Agriculture is, no doubt, a major portion of the economy for the middle colonies, often referred to as the breadbasket of the colonies. Farmers have vast areas of fertile land that make it ideal for growing grain. However, this is not the only economic virtue in New York
The second great industry is that of trade. There are 2 different forms of trade as well: trade with foreign countries and the other colonies and the Indian fur trade. The Indian fur trade is exceedingly lucrative, and hundreds of men are engaged in it. A trader can go into the Indian country stocked with rum and inventions and appliances prized by the natives, and in return he will receive furs and pelts. These would then be shipped down the Hudson where they can be sold to the foreign traders in Manhattan. This province furnishes furnishes iron in great quantities. It has some Copper and lead, but at a great distance from the British, and amongst the Indian Settlements. There are Coal Mines in Long Island., which have not yet been wrought. New York had a diverse range of wealth. The work could be from elements of both the Southern region (large plantations) and New England region (shipbuilding and lumbering). |